This is no way advice to get off medication prescribed by a licensed doctor and should not replace any medical advice. I am just explaining my own experiences and I believe this can help others.

Anxiety and depression are linked to the gut micro biome. If you aren't familiar with this let me give you a small summary: Your gut microbiome is made up of trillions of bacteria, fungi and other microbes. Bacteria isn't bad, beneficial bacteria is called "probiotics" and to create more of this beneficial bacteria people need to eat prebiotics(aka fiber), these probiotics also help you absorb more vitamins and minerals from your food. The gut microbiome plays a very important role in your health by helping control mood, hormone function, immune function, vitamin and mineral absorption. The way bacteria can regulate mood is through metabolizing vitamins and minerals from foods and the bacteria produces neurotransmitters. The gut micro biome can produce almost every neurotransmitters and creates 90% of the serotonin and 50% of the dopamine produced in the body and through the vagus nerve and the blood stream humans are able to access those important happy neurotransmitters. The biome also can create GABA which is an anti anxiety neurotransmitters that bacteria can produce to lower the presence of glutamate in the body the anxiety neurotransmitters the brain produces.

The american diet has caused a lot of disruption in our gut by killing healthy gut bacteria. Toxicities like municipal water(do not drink or cook with that water), alcohol, antibiotics, herbicides, pesticides, glyphosate, artificial sweeteners, stress(cortisol), bad sleep( not following the circadian rhythm) kill healthy bacteria. Eat more organic whole fiber foods and eat fermented foods sauerkraut, tempeh, kimchi, and miso. Organic apple cider vinegar helps protect against glyphosate I recommend having half a teaspoon every other day. Have a cup of green tea a day as well and learn a relaxing breathing practice but nutrition and a healthy lifestyle are the most important factors, get sun and go on 40 min power walks everyday. Get 5 gallon drums of water and find a water refill place that cleans their water good near you it is cheaper than bottled water and is healthier. 5 gallon drums of water that are refillable is the best temporary solution to tap water, refillable 5 gallon stations are almost everywhere. "Windmill" refillable stations do a really good job at cleaning their water and it is some of the best tasting water I have ever consumed and it is cheaper than buying bottled water it is a dollar and 25 cents to refill 5 gallons and to buy 30+ bottles of water it cost 3-5 dollars. An even better solution is buying a "carbon filter" whole house water filtration system and installing a reverse osmosis tank under your sink so it R.O right before it comes out the spout. I personally have 4 5 gallon drums and Im still doing research on an a good carbon filter system for my house.

Follow a Diet for IBS and Autoimmune disease and follow that type of diet till your gut is healed then eat a more diverse whole foods plant based diet with fermented foods. Make sure you hit all your nutritional targets just add food on this website and it shows what nutrition it has Cronometer.com and how much you should be getting.

This doctor is an expert on the gut micro biome as well and explains the benefits of the circadian rhythm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GJjGJnf9gY watch the whole thing as well. He is a little religious but his research and science is sound and has a series on youtube about the gut micro biome with tons of info.

This is not a quick fix and to truly heal the gut and to restore normal function could take years. This is a lifestyle that involves eating more organic fiber foods, fermented foods, drinking clean water, and living a healthy life style, while avoiding toxicities.

So I used to eat WFPB. Honestly, best "diet" I have ever done. I did it for about 2 years and have recently fallen off and am back to using the SAD as a coping mechanism for my problems. I am committed to getting back to this way of eating because it has soooo many benefits and just makes me feel good about myself. However, because it's been so long since I "detoxed" from the SAD, I've forgotten how difficult the process actually is. How long should I expect it take for my toxic sugar cravings to subside? When will I actually start craving things like beets and sweet potatoes again?

I’m not sure yet but I think if you take this date glaze info below and place the date glaze on top of mashed sweet potatoes and bake it, (add pecans on top as well), we may have a contender for traditional yams, minus the marshmallows.

By accident I found out that this date “glaze” liquid could taste really good on top of yams.

Pour Boiling water over pitted dates (maybe a half inch water over whatever dates are in a bowl, just enough to soak and then a tad more) and let water sit for ten minutes. Move dates and water to blender and add a splash of vanilla extract and blend until smooth liquid. Pour this mixture over mashed sweet potatoes or yams and bake like usual for yam casserole. This would just be enough to heat the mashed yams and date glaze. Add pecans somewhere near the end and let them get a bit crisped up.

Again, I’m sorry I don’t have a full legit recipe yet but I think this could work if you dare to experiment beforehand with a smaller version of this dish before T-giving.

I'm already vegan and eat maybe 75% WFPB. I'm setting some serious health and fitness goals for myself and aim to be completely oil free WFPB by February. I'm curious what sort of blood test would be the most useful to see changes? I'm not expecting any huge changes as I already eat a fairly healthy plant based diet and exercise a lot, but I'm curious to see if anything does change!

Hello everyone, this is my first time posting here. I am a 44 yr old disabled veteran male. I am a higher functioning schizophrenic. My onset happened after and as a result of my service in the Persian Gulf. Like most schizophrenics who take their medicine religiously, I have put on quite a few pounds (actually very obese), I have developed type 2 diabetes, and I have high cholesterol, and blood pressure. I have become afraid I am a ticking time bomb. So I have been researching a WFPB diet. I have watched “What the Health?” and “Forks Over Knives”, and I am currently reading “How Not to Die” (Just started)

Some people close to me have become concerned about my interest in the WFPB diet. They are saying things like “With you being schizophrenic you need more fats for the brain.” and “You will kill yourself with all those carbs from the whole grains.” They are recommending Keto. I just don’t know about the Keto diet because of my cholesterol and blood pressure. I have tried to research both WFPB and Keto in relation to schizophrenia. All I have found at this point is a paper written for NCBI that explains how three patients were able to lower their antipsychotic dose by following a Keto diet. I don’t want to base my health on three people. Does anyone know of any studies that show how effective these two diets are for schizophrenia (mainly cognitive decline, memory loss, and mood)? All I have found is that Keto is somewhat effective for epilepsy (which I do not have). I am not worried about the diabetes since that was covered in the two documentaries I have watched and I figure since it is a major problem in the modern world Dr Gregor will talk about at length in his book.

I thank you all in advance for any advice you may have. My “launch date” I have come up with is Monday October 29. That is when I hope to have all the information I need to do this right, and begin my new WFPB lifestyle.

The scale of animal agriculture is polluting our planet, a leading source of GHGs, is unhealthy for us, and well, it's unspeakably cruel to the animals caught inside the system where they are only valued for their flesh, milk, eggs, skins and fur. Eating animals is incredibly inefficient resource-wise. Depending on the animal, it takes 10-20x more plant matter to feed the animal to get the equivalent nutrition from their meat vs just eating plants ourselves.

If we can raise $5k, we get a DC lobbyist for 1 full month to convince law makers to end federal subsidies to animal agriculture. Even a $4 donation will help. If we fail to raise $5k in ~75 days, you'll get your donation back. Who is with me?

Recently someone commented on how my kids are going to be damaged because at home we only practice wfpb diet. Outside healthy choices are encouraged but not enforced. I really didn’t know what to say. My idea of a well balanced diet is very different from most of my friends and family. They think it’s too restrictive for kids and not well balanced...many times I pointed them to the work of Colin Campbell and they just don’t want to read it because our diet is just way too “extreme “ and not well balanced. Has anyone else had this issue? I’m just not sure what to say.

I got a strange remark from someone regarding this lunch I just put together at a salad bar. The check out person said "that's a lot of food, so many calories." I'm trying to lose some body fat, and I love eating a meal like this so I need some perspective from reddit to tell me if I'm doing this wrong.

Here's what I put in the salad: (a "scoop" is one of those metal serving spoons worth of an item. Not a heaping amount, just a level amount)

A bunch of lettuce, purple leafy lettuce-ish things too

1/2 scoop cut up strawberries

1/2 scoop blueberries

1/2 scoop sunflower seeds

1/2 scoop yellow raisins

1/2 scoop dried cranberries

1 scoop chopped celery

1 scoop sliced cherry tomatoes

1 scoop chopped mushrooms

approx 10 green olives

1/2 scoop chopped black olives

1 scoop chopped red beets

1 scoop chopped red, yellow, orange pepper mix

That's it.

No salad dressing, no croutons, nothing else. Just fruits, vegetables, and seeds.

It weighed in at a whopping 1.6lbs of vegetation, and I ate every last bit of it.

While reading Odwalla's 10-K security and exchange commission fillings; I ran across this sentence: "Product liability. Because our products are not irradiated or chemically treated and are flash or gently pasteurized, they are highly perishable and contain certain naturally occurring microorganisms." ( please refer to https://www.nasdaq.com/markets/ipos/filing.ashx?filingid=1193840 ). I commonly buy juices despite having a juicer; and I wondered which Juice producers are safe and which are not? i.e. Is Evolution Fresh (a Starbucks subsidiary) safe? What about Trader Joe's produced juices? Is there a list of juices which have been irradiated or chemically treated?

I recently came into possession of a very large (over 10 lbs) bag of hulled buckwheat that expires in 8 weeks. I usually soak it and make a cereal with chia, hemp hearts, and fruit but would like to see if anyone else has any great wfpb recipes to help me eat it up. I don't have a food processor or mill so turning it into flour is out.

Is a WFPB low fat diet that’s soy free, nut free, sugar free, salt free, grain free(gluten free), and Sclerenchyma cell free(do not eat plants with thick cell membranes such as kale and collared greens. If you eat a salad, include cooked food to aid digestion, or don’t eat salad at all to prolong the life of your digestive system.

I've made several attempts at it. It seems the most difficult part is other people's reaction to it. Just being a vegetarian, I get a ton of crap from a lot of people. I try not to bring it up but I get called out and attention brought onto me whenever I am eating in front of others. Everyone wants to know where I get protein from. It is making me feel like staying home so I don't have to deal with it. I find I'm often holding a drink in hand at a party, pretending to drink so I don't have to say I don't want to put this in my body. It's a little more difficult with meat and dairy and oils and salt.

Hey everyone!
I'm a 21 yr young female who is super into powerlifting + yoga, all the fitness things really. Anyways, I've had a hard time finding "my diet". I counted macros for a little, didnt last. Meal plan, didn't last. Would starve/binge. I wouldnt say I have a bad relationship with food but I just don't know how to eat..if that makes sense.

I've been dipping my toes into whole food plant based/forks over knives diets. So far I really like it, I've been feeling really well but I'm having a hard time sustaining it. Should I keep a diary?
Just some tips/advice from anyone is much appreciated!
xo

Hey all,
I'm 27 and probably in the best shape of my life. I recently lost a significant amount of weight watching what I eat, and exercising. I would like to get to a WFPB lifestyle, but I don't know enough about it to make a real attempt. I tried to go vegan once before, but I have limited support and basically no knowledge of how to make edible food. I lasted about a week and a half. (I basically ate potato curry alone.) Can you make some suggestions on what I can do to give myself a real chance for success this time?